Thread by @MarshallProj

THREAD: Notorious Chicago police commander Jon Burge led a torture ring that prompted false confessions from hundreds of black men.

In this #TMPSouthSide/@AmazonPub story, @NatalieYMoore looks at survivors' decades-long quest for reparations. 1/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Survivor Darrell Cannon spent decades in prison after he was tortured into a false confession for murder. 2/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

In 1983, Cannon was tortured by a team of Chicago police officers who used a 10-inch cattle prod and a pump-action shotgun. “You’re in for a long, hard day,” one of the cops warned him. 3/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Cannon spent 21 years in prison before he was exonerated. He said he felt that freedom was partial justice — but still a very long way from real justice.

Cannon wasn’t the only one with a story to tell. 4/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

For years, members of the C.P.D. used electrical shocks and beatings, suffocated people with plastic bags and burned them with cigarette lighters, but faced no consequences from the state for their behavior. 5/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Police supervisors looked the other way, the state’s attorney refused to investigate and used the dirty confessions to get convictions and the city fought off claims for damages in court.

Survivors, their lawyers, and activists kept pushing back. 6/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Burge tortured his first documented victim in 1973, a year when Chicago clocked 864 murders. In 1993, a decade after the torture was first exposed, the C.P.D. finally fired Burge. 7/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Decades after his firing, activists brought their grievances to the United Nations’ Committee against torture. The U.N. responded with a report accusing the U.S. of violating international bans on torture. 8/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Still, Burge didn’t face criminal charges until 2010 when a court found him guilty of lying under oath during a civil trial brought by one of the survivors in which he denied torturing people. 9/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Eventually the survivors had an epiphany: Why not fight for reparations?

A movement to win reparations for those affected by Burge's abuse grew through Sunday-afternoon meetings, petitions, marches, rallies, a Twitter campaign, and more. 10/ themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…

Read more about Burge and how police torture survivors in Chicago sought payback in this #TMPSouthSide/@AmazonPub feature by @NatalieYMoore. 11/11 themarshallproject.org/2018/10/30/pay…